Improvement in gaps foe coffin soeews



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GEORGE I-I. HOWARD; OF SOUTHV BRAI-NTREE, MASSACHUSETTS.

lLena-S 'Pt-emr N0. 62,135, data-z lama-y 19, 18er.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAPS FOR GOFIIN SGREWS.

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TO ALL PERSONS TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME:

Bc it known that I, GEORGE H. HOWARD, of South Braintree, in the county of Norfolk, and State of Massachusetts, have made a new and useful invention of an improved Collin-Screw Cap; and I do hereby declare the same to bc fully described in the following specification andV represented in the accompanying drawings,.of which- Figure l is a top view of itas open; andlFigure 2, a longitudinal and vertical section of it as closed. i

Its hase part, A, and cover, C, arc to be of very thin sheet metal, struck into `shape by means of dies. The screw-head cavi-ty is shown at a, and-the shank-hole at b. `The base part,-A, has a small tooth or catch, c, raised upon it. The cover C is in the shape of a hollow conic frustum, andis providedwith a small indentation, d, to receive the point oi" the catch e. The said cover C is held to `the base part A by means of a rivet, f,`which goes through the base part, and an arm, c, projecting from the cover. The cap O, when made of metal, as brass, for instance, and very thin, will be elastic eircumferentially, whereby its r:indentation d may be sprung either into or out of engagement with the tooth or catch c; that is, the coverA at its circumference may be sprung inward so as to engagewith the catch, when the cover may be pressed laterally against such catch; `or it will also spring inward so as to be 'easily disengaged from the catch, when a suilioient amount of pressure is brought against it to force it out of connectioniwith the catch.. The Collin-screw cap represented in the drawings is shown as without ornamentation. It may be formed with such devices or characters in relief as fancy may die:

tate. It is far superior in its operationto other screw capsin use for like purposes, and is of cheaper construe-` tion, generally speaking. With respect to them, it is an improved manufacture; one very much approved of by undertakers and makers of collins and cabinet work.

I do not claim a coin-screw cap as made of a cover and base, hinged or connected together and provided with devices for latching the cover in position when directly over the-scre\vhead cavity ofthe base; such being as exhibited in the United States Patent No. 36,635, granted to B. Bailey, and also in JID. Franklins application for a patent filed July 20, 1858, and subsequently rejected. In each of these` latter screw caps, the cover is provided with two arms or lugs extended from it in opposite directions; whereas in my improved coffin-screw cap the cover has but one of such arms or lugs, and the catch recess d is formed directly in the side or circumference of the cover, the same being so that the inherent elasticity of the cover in a diametric direction may be employed as a spring to hold the cover in engagement with the catch c. In the other screw caps to which reference has been had, the elasticity 'of the lug by which the cover is connected to the base is all or about all the spring employed to keep the other lug in engagement with the catch. This, in particular, proves to be very uncertain; a slight blow or jar often is sufficient to cause disengagement of the latch of the cover, and the cover to fall away from and so as to uncover and expose the screwhead. These difficulties, and

the great Want of an eilicientand certain screw cap by undertakers, or those who make use of such a device, led me to the invention of mine, hereinbefore described, the cover of which being kept in engagement with the catch by the inherent elastic force of the cover exerted diametrically of it, and not by the mere elastic force of the lug or arm, is s ure to maintain its position in`connection with the catch, or isnot lia-ble under any ordi-4 nary cireumstanees to be accidentally disengaged from the catch. What, therefore, I claim as my invention, is

Myimproved arrangement of the latching devices c d of the coliin-screw cap cover and base, with respect to such cover and base, substantially as described, viz, so that the cover, by its inherent diametric elasticity may be caused to operateas a spring to connect or engage the latching devices together, and keep one of them in i connection or engagement with the other, or prevent their accidental disengagement, as specified.

GEORGE H. HOWARD.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL N. PIPER, R. H. EDDY. 

